The Snake's Mistake
by Loner Kid
Summary: Orochimaru made a special device and put all his knowledge into it. He then went to the past and gave young Sasuke the device, hoping with all the power he can get from the device, he will come to him sooner than last time. But, he didn't know that the 'Sasuke' he gave the device to..is actually Naruto in disguise. Start on the day when Team 7 first met. Not-evil Naruto, HIATUS
1. Chapter 1 Chaos?

**ANNOUNCEMENT see my profile.**

**The Snake's Mistake**

**BY: Loner Kid**

**Summary:** Orochimaru made a special device and put all his knowledge into it. He then went to the past and gave young Sasuke the device, hoping with all the power Sasuke can get from the device, he will come to him sooner than last time. However, he didn't know that the 'Sasuke' he gave the device to..is actually Naruto in disguise. Starts on the day when Team 7 first met. NON-evil Naruto, no bashing. Pairing undecided.

**Disclaimer: **Not mine.

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><p><strong>AN: Thank you RealmeNevertobeseen for beta-ing! Here! Have a choco ball!<strong>

**Updated: Feb. 18, 2014. 4:29 PM**

**Chapter 1 Chaos?**

-In the future-

In an underground laboratory, there was a dark figure moving around hastily. He ignored the blood dripping from the deep gash in his stomach and continued his experiment. The room was dank and crowded. Broken machines stacked together, rolled up blueprints surrounded the already full trashcan, and many wires were tangled together, the figure almost tripped over them once, and the wound really didn't help the situation.

A dimmed light shone on the figure's face. With the barely visible light, the figure worked on a small chip under a microscope. The chip was so small that a lady bug would be proud of its size. It constantly made electric flashes and even shocked the figures fingers once or twice.

With a muffled yelp, the figure quickly tore his hand away from the chip. His hand had a second degree burn on the tips. He ignored it and started doing hand seals that looked like some sort of mind transferring jutsu. With the last seal done, he pointed his right finger at a barely visible seal on the chip and left finger on his temple, muttering "**Knowledge Transfer Jutsu (Chishiki Iten no Jutsu)**."

The figure smiled as he saw a bright white light surrounded the chip for a minute, and then fade, "Good to know it work-" He suddenly coughed up blood; he then whispered to himself, "... no more… time. (Gasp) Have to... get to him..."

A drop of sweat glided down his cheek. He put the chip into a syringe and pocketed it. He then went into another room where a huge seal was marked on the ground.

He flicked on the light, and in the now lit room, you could see a lean pale man, who has a long face with pronounced cheekbones, golden eyes with slits as his pupils and purple markings around them, and waist length black hair. He wore a black, polo neck tight shirt, a plain grey garb over it, black pants, and a thick, purple rope belt tied around his waist, which was now stained with crimson blood.

"Kukuku...I will not lose...although I lost in the war… I will change it... I will change EVERYTHING!" With an insane yell, Orochimaru stood in the middle of the seal and quickly started doing complicated hand seals. After a full minute of continuous hand seals, he stopped as the seal glowed red. His last thought before he disappeared was...

_Stupid demon brat. I will not get killed by you again. This time, I will make sure Sasuke doesn't betray me and help Konoha; he WILL help me destroy Konoha!_

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><p>-Past-<p>

Naruto Uzumaki, whom was in Sasuke's form, was running away from Sakura. The pain in his stomach made him quicken his steps towards the bathroom. Suddenly, a flash of light shined brightly in front of him, forcing him to close his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, there was a man who smelled like snakes kneeling there, breathing heavily as blood dripped from his clothing.

"Um... sir? Are you alright?" Sasuke (Naruto) asked, wondering whether or not he should call for help.

"Fi-finally..." Orochimaru stood up and suddenly grabbed Sasuke's arm, his right hand held up a syringe and plunged it roughly into the stunned Sasuke's arm.

A clicking sound told him that the chip was successfully inserted. He did some quick hand seals and disappeared in a flash of light.

As soon as the chip was inserted, Naruto felt a great pain crawling its way up from his arm to his head. He was in such an immense pain that he didn't notice the weird figure disappear in the flash of light. Naruto felt as if his mind was about to burst when a weird voice sounded somewhere far away deep in his mind.

**"Owner found. Destination located. Knowledge locked. Activated when triggered."**

After a minute or two, the pain subsided and Naruto could think clearly again.

_What the hell was that?!_

He couldn't help but wonder. What was that voice? He definitely hadn't heard it before. So what was it? Was it some jutsu that messes with his mind that the strange man used on him?

He pressed the spot where the mysterious thing was inserted. Nothing. There was nothing beneath his skin.

Had it all been a dream?

A sudden pain in his stomach snapped him out of his thoughts.

_Damn...bathroom..._

With a ridiculously fast speed that Naruto hadn't noticed yet, he ran towards the nearest restroom, making a blur of yellow as he passed. The next day, there will probably be news of the return of the Yondaime.

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><p>-Future-<p>

After a flash of light, Orochimaru collapsed on the ground, struggling for breath.

_Guess my time is over. But just you wait, Uzumaki Naruto (referring to the past Naruto), I will come back and make your life hell!_

With a final gasp of breath, the infamous antagonist, a Legendary Sannin, Orochimaru rolled his eyes back, and finally lay still.

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><p>-Past-<p>

Team seven sat in the classroom, impatiently waiting for their sensei to arrive. Sasuke was brooding as usual (when is he not?), Sakura is drooling over him, and Naruto is staring intensely at his arm. Although the thing under his skin was gone, it still felt weird, as if his skin was burning...

"Why are you so quiet, dobe? Finally tired of your own voice?" Sasuke taunted, it was extremely rare to have the dead last be so quiet.

"Nothin'. Why do you care? Huh?" Naruto shot back, the teme's arrogant voice and smirk was really getting on his nerves.

"I can't have you be a burden, hm?" Sasuke said the annoying smirk still present on his face. Sakura was chanting in the background: "Yeah! Don't be a burden to Sasuke-kun!"

"Teme! Stop acting so full of yourself!" Naruto cried, raising a fist threateningly at Sasuke. Sasuke didn't budge.

"Threatening me? Let's see you try then." Sasuke taunted, knowing this would get a reaction out of Naruto.

Sasuke was correct. As soon as the words left his mouth, Naruto's eyes flicked up and his body shook with anger. He yelled with rage and charged at Sasuke blindly, attempting to punch his face. Sasuke side-stepped swiftly out of the way, waiting for Naruto to crash into the wall. Naruto knew the second Sasuke moved he was doomed to kiss the wall since it was too late to stop, so he closed his eyes, waiting for the oncoming pain.

But the pain didn't come.

The sound of Naruto crashing into the wall didn't reach Sasuke's ears.

Naruto stopped his movements and opened his eyes, and almost screamed at the sight above, no, below him.

He was standing on the ceiling, staring at his two dumbfounded teammates wide-eyed, not knowing what had just happened. He looked up and stared at his feet, and felt small amount of chakra gathered on it.

Sakura stared at Naruto with her mouth hanging open, eyes bulging out. Sasuke was no better. He too stared at the dobe with his mouth slightly parted, surprise written all over his face.

_How the HELL did he do that!_

They were snapped out of their thoughts when the door slid open, revealing a silver haired jounin with his forehead protector covering his left eye. He stared dumbly at the two teammates on the ground, and one Uzumaki Naruto on the ceiling, and said lazily. "Hm... my first impression is...you guys mean trouble. Meet me on the roof in five minutes." With that he disappeared into a swirl of wind.

Sasuke and Sakura took one last look at Naruto and left, assuming Naruto knew his way down, not that they would care if he _didn't_ know. It's his own fault for getting into that situation in the first place.

Realizing the situation he was in, Naruto shouted, "TEME! SAKURA-CHAN! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!" Seeing that neither of them were going to help him, he panicked, thus releasing the chakra gathered on his feet, and fell flat on his face.

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><p>"Well, let's begin with introducing yourselves. Likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the futures… stuff like that." The silver haired jounin said, eyes flickering to Naruto, whose face was bloody from his now-healed broken nose.<p>

_Damn that teme for leaving me there! Next time, I'll punch him in the face hard, make him ugly, then Sakura-chan will fall in love with me, and then I'll become Hokage and live happily ever after with Sakura-chan!_

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen, especially Ichiraku ramen, training, and Sakura-chan! I don't like the three minutes I have to wait for ramen to boil. My hobbies are training, eating ramen, pranking, and watering plants. And my dream...is to become Hokage and have everyone acknowledge me! Also..." Naruto added with an afterthought. "I want to live with Sakura-chan happily ev-"

He didn't even finish his sentence because Sakura's fist had knocked him out. Kakashi looked at them with a deadpanned expression.

_A fangirl, a brooding avenger; and a ramen loving prankster who is in love. Oh... can this day just get any worse? God… why do you hate me so much!_

Kakashi sighed and quickly explained the survival training tomorrow, enjoying the sight of two slightly trembling genins in front of him.

_Tomorrow is going to be fun..._

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><p>A while after Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura left, Naruto finally woke up with a mild headache and a trail of dried blood running down his nose. He sat up groggily and looked around him, eyes half-opened.<p>

The tree is green. Sky is blue. I'm wearing orange.

Good. Nothing's wrong.

He licked his dried lips as he heard a low grumbling sound from his stomach.

_Oh well! Let's go get a bowl of Ichiraku ramen!_

He jumped up at the thought of deliciously cooked ramen. Oh... it feels like weeks since he last ate at Ichiraku. He quickly took the paper (survival training...wahh?) that had a rock placed on top of it to make sure it didn't fly away, and jumped down the roof, running down the side of the building and onto the street with extremely fast speed.

His eyebrow perked up as he saw villagers stare at him longer than usual.

_Well, maybe they particularly hate me more today._

Unfortunately, he was too hungry to realize that the villager's eyes were filled with surprise and admiration, not hate and disgust. 99% of his brain was focused on Ichiraku ramen, nothing else mattered.

"Let's go let's go! Ichiraku ramen is the BEST! Miso ramen! Pork ramen! Tonkatsu ramen all COME TO ME! Ramen~ ramen~ ramen~" Naruto sang his made-up song of Ichiraku ramen and quickened his pace, leaving a trail of dust behind.

He went past two training shinobi in green spandex. Gai and Lee looked up as they saw a blurred figure rush past them.

"Gai-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"IT'S A CHALLENGE!" They yelled in unison and followed Naruto with their ridiculously fast speed. All the people saw was a yellow blur in front and two green blurs going after it. Some imaginative people even started a rumor that the Yondaime was back and had angered Konoha's two green beasts, and was now running for his life. Therefore, clueless villagers started throwing trash at the two green blurs, trying to protect their Yondaime. But the blurs were moving too fast, the trash only hit the person directly across them. And so, a trash war had started.

Naruto had noticed something wrong when people started pointing somewhere behind him and shouting. He turned, and almost yelped when he saw two green monsters chasing after him. He unconsciously pushed chakra to the sole of his feet and ran even faster. Now he's not running for ramen.

He's running for his life!

"LEE!"

"Gai-SENSEI!"

"HE'S FAST!"

"CAN I?"

"YES! I GIVE YOU PERMISSION!"

"FIRST GATE OPEN!"

"BOOM!"

It didn't take long for Gai and Lee to catch Naruto** (1)**. Naruto looked tiredly flustered at the two green strangers in front of him. Why the hell are they chasing him? Gai and Lee looked at Naruto with an awed expression.

"Boy! Are you FAST!" Gai exclaimed loudly, making Naruto wince at his voice.

_He's even louder than me!_

"Well... I am?"

"OH YES! You're so full of YOUTHFULNESS!" Lee exclaimed with an equally loud voice. "I am the handsome devil of the Hidden Leaf Village. My name is Rock Lee! What is your name?"

Naruto's eyes lit up. He immediately forgot about their loudness and started introducing himself with his equally loud voice. "MY NAME IS UZUMAKI NARUTO AND I'M GOING TO BE THE NEXT HOKAGE! BELIEVE IT!"

Gai, who was standing next to them smiling proudly, tensed up, thinking._ So this is the boy who has the Kyuubi sealed inside him._

"UZUMAKI NARUTO!" Lee did a good guy pose and smiled, showing eight teeth. "I ACCEPT YOU AS MY RIVAL! I CHALLENGE YOU TO A FIGHT!"

"I accept your fight!" Naruto agreed without thinking. Finally, someone acknowledged him. He's going to prove to Lee that he is a strong rival, not a dobe, or a deadlast, as how Sasuke-teme would call it.

"Well! Let's go!"

With that said, they headed to training ground 13, with Gai and Lee in the lead.

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><p><strong>(1): <strong>Orochimaru is fast, since he can dodge Naruto in his four-tail mode. But he's not a speed demon and he doesn't specialize in speed. So Gai and Lee are faster than his speed since they do physical training for their entire life and is practically a symbol of speed.

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><p>-Training ground 13-<p>

"C'mon, Lee," Naruto pointed his finger at Lee and then curled it towards him. "Let's see what you've got."

"YES! SHOW HIM LEE! SHOW HIM YOUR FLAME OF YOUTH!" Gai shouted, then did a good guy pose.

"HAI! Gai-SENSEI!" Lee also did a good guy pose.

"LEE!"

"Gai-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"Gai-SENSEI!"

They hugged each other with anime tears streaming down their faces. A sunset and a beach with waves constantly splashing a giant rock in the middle of the sea appeared out of nowhere. Naruto could only gap at the scene in front of him.

"Umm...can we start now?" He asked awkwardly. Perhaps he had made a horrible mistake of agreeing to be Lee's rival. Perhaps being with Sasuke-teme is better than those two.

"Oh yes! Sorry Naruto-kun!" Lee wiped his tears away and faced Naruto in a battle stance. "Let's begin. I'll show you that even if I can't do any Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, I am still a splendid ninja! I will prove it to the whole world!"

"Me too! I'll show you that I can and will be the future Hokage and will gain everyone's respect 'ttebayo!" Naruto shouted and got into his messy battle stance. He saw Lee shifted his feet, and... gone.

_What? Where did he go!?_

Naruto wondered, and suddenly saw Lee appearing in front of him with a side kick to his face. He quickly held up his left hand to block it and send his own punch towards Lee's face. However, Lee quickly moved out of the way and sent another swift kick towards Naruto. Naruto was beginning to have a hard time keeping up with Lee's speed. He was simply too fast! One second he threw a punch to the left, and the next second a kick was send to the right. Or sometimes he would kick and punch together.

Naruto was just about to get another punch in the face when he felt...something weird flowing through his body. It was like an instinct, and without much time to think, Naruto followed it, catching Lee's fist and twisting it, turning his body, and in one fluent movement, Lee was sent hurtling in the air.

Lee quickly did a back-flip in the air and regained his balance.

"You are really good, Naruto-kun! So full of youthfulness!" Lee exclaimed, excited that his opponent was strong enough to send him flying with only a few moves.

"Hehe..." Naruto laughed and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "My body kinda moved on its own-"

"OHH! You're so used to fighting that you move without thinking?! I will practice and get to that level in a week! If I can't do it then I'll run 100 laps around Konoha on my hands! If I can't run 100 laps around Konoha on my hands, then I'll do 500 push-ups! If I can't do 500 push-ups, then I'll hit the dummy 1000 times! If I can't hit the dummy 1000 times, then I'll do 2000 jump ropes! YOSH! MY FLAME OF YOUTH IS BURNING! JUST YOU WAIT! MY ETERNAL RIVAL! I WILL CATCH UP TO YOU IN A WEEK!" With that said, Lee ran off...on his hands, leaving Naruto with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"Seems like my student had found his eternal rival too! YOSH! I WILL ALSO FIND MY ETERNAL RIVAL KAKASHI AND CHALLENGE HIM TO A SPAR!" Said Gai, running off.

Naruto blinked, and then finally noticed that he was left alone. He shrugged and began walking to Ichiraku.

"Lee is a pretty strong opponent. Seems like I have some training to do. YOSH! 20 bowls of ramen today! If I can't do that then I'll eat 10 more cups of ramen at home! YAHOO!"

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><p>Somewhere in a certain bookstore, in the perverted section, a masked jounin shuddered.<p>

_Why do I have a bad feeling? As if there are another G** in Konoha...that isn't possible... is it?_

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><p><strong>Thank you for reading Chapter 1. Chapter 2 is on the way. Reviews are greatly appreciated. =w=<strong>

**Again, there are no bashing in this fic. I absolutely HATE bashing. They ruin the character and the plot. There's no way a character would stay the same. There has to be a change somewhere. That's why a story is separated into beginning, climax, and the end. If a character stays the same throughout the story, it becomes boring.**

**PS: Originally, I was planning on Orochimaru did the jutsu wrong and accidentally put some of his memories into the device, so Naruto sometimes sees his memories. But then I'll have Naruto do research on Orochimaru (anyone would think something is wrong if they started seeing weird pictures of people they don't know right?), then Naruto would appear too smart, and I don't want that. So I took away that part. How do you guys think? Did I make the right choice?**


	2. Chapter 2 Survival Training

**Disclaimer: **See Ch 1.

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><p><strong>AN: Thank you RealmeNevertobeseen for beta-ing!<strong>

**Updated: Feb. 22, 2014. 12:16 PM**

**Chapter 2 Survival Training**

The paper that Naruto took home which had all the details on the next day's survival training...was ruined. After Naruto's nineteenth bowl of Ichiraku ramen, he finally couldn't take it anymore (his record was 17 bowls) so he went home. But he didn't forget about his promise! He promised himself that if he couldn't eat 20 bowls, then he would eat ten more bowls of cup of ramen at home. He would never break his promise. That's his Nindo!

And so, he was sitting on the tatami, leaning against the wall, trying his best to stuff down his fifth cup of ramen. When a sudden nausea overwhelmed him and so he threw up...all over the paper Kakashi-sensei gave him.

After he cleaned up the mess, the paper was still ruined, unreadable. So Naruto packed everything he thought would be needed for tomorrow's survival training, he hoped he didn't miss anything.

Ramen..._check_.

Kunai.. shuriken..._check_.

Ruined paper? _Nah_...

More ramen? _Check_...

And so Naruto was all ready to go. But there was one more thing.

He didn't know the time to meet!

So he calculated in his little head, trying to squeeze out information that could help him guess the time.

_Let's see...what do I know about sensei? Well...he likes to be late. On his first meeting with us, he was freaking two hours late! So maybe tomorrow he will be late too! Hm... I guess I'll head over there at 9AM. That should be enough. The meeting time should be about 7AM and if he's two hours late, then that's 9AM._

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><p>-Next day-<p>

"Hey Sakura-chan! Hey Sasuke-teme! Good morni-" Naruto was cut off by an angry pink haired kunoichi.

"YOU ARE TWO HOURS LATE!" She yelled, shaking with anger. Naruto swallowed nervously, and tried to back away from her. Unfortunately, his back hit a tree stump.

"Umm...you see...I threw up last night so I didn't really feel well this morning..." Naruto smiled nervously, scratching the back of his head.

"Well, that's YOUR fault! Why would you eat so much ramen!?" Sakura scowled.

_This idiot should have known better than to eat so much ramen at once! It wasn't healthy AND eating too much could cause diabetes! But he doesn't look fat at all, actually, he's body is pretty toned. I wonder what he got under that kill-me jumpsuit of his...WAIT! WHAT AM I THINKING!? DID I ACTUALLY JUST IMAGINE NARUTO BEING...AHHHH!_

"How did you know?" Naruto exclaimed. But Sakura just stared at him, seeming like she was spacing out.

"Sakura-chan?"

"Hn. It's so obvious, dobe." Sasuke taunted, arms crossed in front of his chest. "Only you would get nausea from eating ramen."

"Hey! Don't insult ramen! Ramen is the best thing in the world!" Naruto shot back, arms also crossed defiantly as he started listing off the positive sides of ramen. "Ramen is delicious! There are also many flavors! Like pork, chicken, miso, Tonkatsu... You can also put anything you want in ramen! Like some leftover dishes from the day before. You can have Ramen with ANYTHING and-"

"Hn. Ramen sucks. Tomatoes are better." Sasuke cut him off, closing his eyes and nodding his head in agreement as he thought of the delicious juicy tomatoes.

Sakura had snapped out of her thoughts by now and was now watching the two boys with amusement.

"WHAT!? TOMATOES SUCK! RAMEN IS THE BEST!" Naruto argued, glaring at Sasuke.

"Tomatoes are better."

"Ramen is!"

"Tomatoes!"

"Ramen!"

"Tomatoes!"

"Actually..." They both looked up to the sound of their sensei's voice. Kakashi-sensei was standing on top of a tree, staring at them bickering with an amused expression. "I think broiled saury (a fish) with salt is the best. Miso soup with eggplant is pretty good too...hmm... **(1)**"

"You're late sensei!" Naruto and Sakura both yelled. Sasuke just 'Hn!'-ed and glared at him.

"Well...you see...a black cat crossed my path and so I had to go the long way." Kakashi rubbed his head sheepishly.

"LIAR!"

"Okay, anyway." He took out an alarm clock and put it on a tree stump Naruto was sitting against. "Okay, it's set for noon." He said; then took out two bells, "Here are two bells. Your task is to take these from me before the time is up. Those who don't have a bell by noon gets no lunch. I'll not only tie you to one of those stumps, but I'll also eat right in front of you."

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><p><strong>(1):<strong> I didn't make it up. I searched it on the official character data book.

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><p><em>So that's what the survival training is about! Lucky I ate breakfast! Hehe!<em>

_Damn him...I didn't eat last night because I was on diet. And because of his suggestion, I didn't eat breakfast either. Dammit!_

_Hn._

Kakashi eye-smiled at the three genin in front of him. It seemed like two had taken his suggestion and one had decided to defy against him. Oh well, he is Naruto after all. Everyone knows his obsession with ramen. Nothing can separate him from his ramen. Not even sensei's suggestion.

"You only have to get one bell. There are only two, so one of you will definitely be tied to the stump. And the person who doesn't take a bell fails, so at least one of you will get sent back to the academy." Kakashi continued, inwardly laughing at the sight of two trembling genins and one growling Uchiha.

"If you want, you can use shuriken and kunai. You won't succeed if you don't come at me with the intention to kill."

"But, you'll be in danger!" Sakura objected.

"Remember, I'm a jounin. You think I'm not capable of handling three little academy graduates?" Kakashi said and winked at them. "Always look underneath the underneath."

Sasuke and Sakura looked confused, but Naruto seemed to have caught onto something.

"Okay, let's get going. Ready...BEGIN!" Two genins dashed off, and was gone in a blink of an eye. Except one.

"Now... what are you doing here...Naruto?" Kakashi deadpanned. He should've known this kid was going to be trouble.

"Actually, I have a question, sensei." Naruto smiled and crossed his arms behind his head. Kakashi raised a brow.

"Yes..?"

"Are you Gai-sensei's rival?" Naruto asked innocently.

Kakashi almost tripped over his feet. Was this the bad feeling he had had last night?

"Well… yeah. Did you meet him?" Kakashi asked hesitantly, slightly scared of what he's about to hear.

"YES! GAI-SENSEI IS SOOO COOL!" Naruto cried with twinkling eyes. Kakashi blinked and felt blinded by Naruto's brightness. "HE TAUGHT ME THE REAL DEFINITION OF THE FLAME OF YOUTH! HE AND LEE SAID I'M FULL OF YOUTHFULNESS!" Kakashi could almost see the sunset and waves behind Naruto.

_God save me...PLEASE!_

* * *

><p>-Sasuke and Sakura-<p>

They looked at the scene, gaping. What the HELL was that!? Did they just see a sunset out of nowhere!?

God...what the hell is Naruto thinking! Now isn't the time to talk about some...youthfulness!

Time is running out!

* * *

><p>-With Kakashi and Naruto-<p>

Naruto continued his little speech about the flame of youth and youthfulness, choosing his words carefully, and made sure to say it really loud, so Kakashi-sensei wouldn't know his real intention. He saw his sensei close his eyes and groan, and knew now was the right time to strike.

A clone suddenly appeared near Kakashi's waist and attempted to snatch the bells. Unfortunately, Kakashi jumped away in time to avoid it, the clone only touched one of the bells.

"Damn," Naruto cursed, and signaled his two other clones to attack. One clone grabbed Kakashi into a headlock; the other pulled a cloth around his eyes **(2)**. The third clone took the chance to snatch the bells again, but again, Kakashi felt the wind and side-stepped, easily avoiding him.

Naruto took the chance to throw a punch at Kakashi, but to his surprise, the punch landed on the clone that was supposed to be holding Kakashi in a headlock.

"Dammit, I forgot you can switch places with something close to you that you don't need to see in order to do it." Naruto growled at Kakashi, who just neck-chopped the clone holding the blindfold.

"Well, that's quite a nice plan. But there's not much time left~" Kakashi smiled, pointing at the clock.

"Then I'll make it quick! Eat this 'ttebayo!" Naruto yelled as he charged at Kakashi. His body unconsciously changed into a particular form and struck. Although each one of his punches were blocked, his strikes and kicks became more and more...slippery for Kakashi to block. One second Kakashi thought he caught the punch, the next second, it slipped through his hands and a quick punch was thrown towards an opening in his defense.

Kakashi recognized this fighting style and he knew he had heard of it somewhere, but he couldn't remember whom he had heard it from.

_His strikes and stance… always waiting for the right moment to strike...always striking the weak spot...it's as if..._

_..As if...he's a snake… striking the opponent's opening._

_...A snake..? Why would the thought of a snake be familiar?_

A sudden memory surfaced in his mind. A white haired man showing Team Minato a picture of a man with a face like a snake, telling them to run if they ever see this man...and he's sure that the man's name was...

_Orochimaru!_

Why is Naruto using Orochimaru's fighting style!?

Kakashi was so deep in his thoughts that he failed to notice a punch coming towards his face. He got hit, knocking him off balance, but as skilled as a jounin he is, he quickly got out of his reverie and regained his posture.

"Naruto," He called, expecting the boy to stop, but Naruto seemed to be lost in his own world, and so he just kept on attacking. Kakashi sighed and body substituted himself with a bird on the tree, deciding to take some time to organize his thoughts. His brain was a total mess right now.

Just why the hell does Naruto know Orochimaru's fighting style?!

* * *

><p><strong>(2):<strong> They put cloth around his eyes so he can't do the Kawarimi or any other techniques. After all, you have to be able to see the object in order to switch places with it, right?

* * *

><p>Naruto was having fun. Mad fun. He doesn't know why, but his body told him that this is the fun he wanted. This is the right thing to do. After he landed a punch in his opponent's face, he felt even better. He felt like m***, the sadistic feeling of scraping his knuckles against his opponent's skin even aroused him. The thought of being superior over some weaklings, the desire to abuse the flesh of his opponents...<p>

Wait. Who was he fighting again?

He quickly snapped out of his weird thoughts and feeling, and saw himself facing a...bird?

He blinked once, and twice, and rolled his eyes.

"Shoo!" He waved his hand at the small blue bird. The bird ignored his protest and landed on his fingertip, gently nibbling his skin. "Ouch! What'd you do that for?"

Naruto flicked his hand wildly and finally got the bird off. Sighing, he looked around to find his teacher. He was sure he was fighting Kakashi-sensei, but then why would he forget such a simple fact? And why was he lost in thoughts anyway?

"Damn. Now I gotta find Kakashi-sensei again. Hm..." He huffed and sat down gruffly, crossing his arms in front of his chest. It was then he found two bento boxes on a stone not so far away. He snickered wickedly and ran towards the bento. A small voice in his mind told him this is a trap, but his prankster persona quickly took over.

"Hehe~ maybe I can add some traps into the bento, and if Sasuke opened it, it would explode! Hahaha..." He rubbed his hands together gleefully and began preparing his prank; however, he didn't notice a black shadow looming over him.

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><p>-After being caught-<p>

"You pass." Kakashi eye-smiled at the three genins, who had looks of suspicion on their faces.

"Wh-what? But...I thought-" Naruto stuttered, his face was a mixture of confuse and excitement.

"You pass." Kakashi repeated. "You guys are the first. Everyone else would just do whatever I told them. They are all just morons. Remember," he said sternly, "those who break the rules are trash, but those who don't take care of their comrades are worse than trash."

There was a moment of silence after his speech, until-

"Kakashi-sensei! You are sooo cool!" Naruto exclaimed, his eyes glimmering with tears of happiness. Sakura smiled while Sasuke merely 'Hn'ed. Kakashi chuckled.

"All of you pass! First mission starts tomorrow!" Kakashi said and began walking away.

"Wa-wait! Don't just leave me here!" Naruto yelled, struggling to get out of the rope. Kakashi smiled under his mask._ Just like Obito. Except..._

_...Seems like I need to make a trip to the Hokage's office._

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><p><strong>AN: Every 10th reviewer gets a peak to my evil plot for future! Starting on the 20th reviewer. Sorry RealmeNevertobeseen!<strong>

**Btw, if you are one of the 10th reviewer and I forgot to sent you a sneak peak, then PM me xD. I'm working...like...four fic at the same time right now, so I tends to forget to check this^^.**

**PS: I'm sorry if the plot in this chapter moves too quick. Well, when I was typing it, I have 1 min. until school library is closed, so I don't have much time to type. But I promise I'll make the next chapter better!**


	3. Chapter 3 Raising Suspicions

**ANNOUNCEMENT #2 POSTED IN MY PROFILE!**

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><p><strong>AN: Thank you RealmeNevertobeseen for beta-ing!<strong>

**Updated: Feb. 22, 2014. 12:28 PM**

**Chapter 3 Raising Suspicions**

Team seven was excited. They were finally getting their first *real* mission! They were currently standing in the Hokage's office, waiting for the Hokage's decision.

"This is an escort mission, C-ranked. You are going to protect a bridge builder named Tazuna to the Wave Country." Sarutobi said, blowing on his pipe.

"Bridge builder?" Naruto tilted his head, and then he groaned, "Not a princess-" He was interrupted as the door opened, revealing an old man holding a bottle of sake.

He eyed Team seven doubtfully and snorted, "You guys are the ones who are going to protect me?" He then took another drink and burped, causing Naruto to wrinkle his sensitive nose in disgust. "You are just a bunch of brats. Especially the shortest one with the super stupid-looking face; Are you really a ninja?"

"I'LL KILL YOU! How dare you insult Konoha's number one genin, the future Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto!?" Naruto yelled, drawing a fist back to punch Tazuna, but was held back by Kakashi.

"What's the point of killing the person we are supposed to protect?" Kakashi let Naruto go when he calmed down then smiled sheepishly at Tazuna.

"Hm... just a bunch of brats," Tazuna said carelessly, then started introducing himself. "I am the super expert bridge builder, Tazuna. I expect you to provide me super protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge."

"Hn!" Naruto puffed his chest out with a loud grunt. "Leave it to me! Uzumaki Naruto will provide you the BEST protection EVER 'ttebayo!"

"I will be expecting it."

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><p>Kakashi wandered around Konoha with his nose in his perverted book, as usual. But his mind was on a completely different subject. He remembered the talk he had with the Hokage right after the 'survival mission'.<p>

_Flashback_

_Kakashi stood before Sarutobi with a serious look on his face. "Hokage-sama, do you think it is the Kyuubi?" He asked, staring at Sarutobi's thoughtful expression._

_"It is likely, but that doesn't explain how Naruto knew Orochimaru's fighting style." Sarutobi replied with a frown. When can the boy not cause him trouble?_

_"Perhaps...Naruto has been contacting Orochimaru? But it's not possible... he has never left the village before. And why would Orochimaru suddenly take an interest in Naruto? Was it because he planned on getting the Kyuubi?" Kakashi voiced his thoughts. He would not admit he was slightly afraid of Orochimaru; it would go against his Nindo and harm his pride. But if Orochimaru was planning on hurting his sensei's son in any way, then he would do everything he could to protect Naruto._

_"We have no clue." Sarutobi shook his head in defeat, crossed his fingers and placed them under his chin; he spoke sternly, "what we can do right now is to watch Naruto, closely. And if there is anything off with him, report to me right away. Understood?"_

_"Hai, Hokage-sama."_

_End flashback_

Although Naruto was the most cheerful and easy-going member on the team, he was the one who worried Kakashi the most. The boy had endured too much pain in his twelve years of life. And if Orochimaru tried to brainwash him and turn him against Konoha, it wouldn't be such a hard task.  
>Kakashi just hoped the boy wouldn't make the wrong choice and fall into darkness.<p>

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><p>Naruto lay in his bathtub, enjoying the warm water splashing against his skin, while thinking about tomorrow's mission. It was his first mission outside of Konoha and it was his chance to make everyone acknowledge him! As soon as he came back from the Hokage's office, he had immediately begun practicing jutsu after jutsu. Even if they were all E-ranked academy jutsus, he still practiced them because he's sure they will come in use at some point.<p>

He wished he had higher leveled jutsu scrolls. But the librarians don't let him into the library, the shop owners didn't either, so he could only rely on the jutsus in the academy school books and scrolls. He had tried to henge himself, but his henge always slipped after a few minutes because his chakra control was bad. He didn't know why, but it seemed that he was the only genin who couldn't control his chakra correctly. Was it because of the Kyuubi?

Naruto stayed in the bathtub for a few more minutes before getting out and drying himself. He stared at his reflection in the mirror and couldn't help but grimace. There were bruises and scars all over his thin frame, mostly from all the beatings he received from the villagers. But it didn't affect him much since whenever he was hurt; it would always be healed the next day. However, he practically got hurt everyday due to the villagers, so he was always covered in cuts and bruises. But now he was a ninja of Konoha, the villagers had no right to attack him anymore. If they did, they would be sent to prison for the crime of attacking a fellow ninja.

A sudden burning pain snapped him out of his thoughts. He gazed at his burning arm and found two faint, black rings marked around his bare forearm. Why hadn't he ever noticed these before? He bit his lip and gripped his arm tightly as he felt the two rings scorch his skin. Although the pain was intense, it was gone quickly. Naruto took some deep breaths then looked into the mirror, and got the second surprise of the day.

His appearance didn't change much, except his now tamed hair became slightly darker in color and was also more lank. What was causing the changes in his body? Naruto thought back to what had happened in the past few days, and the image of a snake-looking man popped up in his mind. He was sure the strange man injected something into his arm, but the whatever-that-was-injected had not caused him any troubles...until recently. Was it really the whatever-that-was-injected that was causing the changes? Or was it something else?

Naruto pondered the thought of asking the Hokage about it, but decided against it. If he showed Old Man Hokage the mark, or tattoo, he would surely be sent to the hospital to be observed. He would probably get more cuts and bruises from the doctors who hate the 'demon-brat', which would affect his mission tomorrow.

And he will not let anything stop him from going on his first real mission as a ninja.

At last, Naruto decided to tell Old Man Hokage about his changes after the mission. He quickly put on his clothes, dried his hair, put on his sleeping cap, and leaped into his bed. He was so tired that he fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.

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><p>A strangely familiar ringing sound woke Naruto up. He propped his arms onto the bed sheet and looked sleepily at the alarm clock.<p>

6:00 AM

Good. He was not late.

He got up immediately and did his usual morning routine, which was brushing his teeth, washing his face, eating a cup of pork ramen, and putting on his usual orange jumpsuit. When he was done with everything, it was only six-thirty AM. He then wandered around his room pointlessly and somehow found his way to the mirror. He looked at his reflection warily, and was extremely glad to see that there were no surprises for him. He had a terrible nightmare that night of him waking up, unable to breathe, and found his hair had grown long enough to tighten itself around his neck, choking him.

If one wasn't looking closely and carefully, Naruto's hair would appear the same as usual. But if others examined him closely, they would find his hair slightly smoother, floppier, and a slightly darker-dirty blond-color.

After thirty minutes of trying to get his hair to return to normal (spiky) and failing, Naruto finally hung his head in defeat. It was strange, feeling hair covering the side of his face and seeing his bangs covering his forehead protector. It was usually being held up by it, not covering it, but he wouldn't disagree with the fact that he does look better with this hairstyle. No wonder many women quoted 'hairstyles change people's features'.

Naruto glanced at the clock again and decided it was finally time to leave. He hoped Sakura-chan wouldn't hit him this time since he wasn't late.

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><p><strong>AN: Do you think Naruto was OOC at this part? I tried to make him look, or feel, not too mature, but I think I may have failed. Please give me some feedbacks and reviews of how you think!<strong>

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><p>"Hey Sakura-chan! Sasuke-teme! Good morning!" Naruto greeted heartedly and made his way towards his teammates with a big, cheerful yet goofy grin on his face and a ridiculously gigantic backpack on his back, three-fourths of it was filled with ramen.<p>

"Naruto?" Sakura asked eyes widening in alarm as Naruto walked near her. "What did you do to your hair?"

"Eh?" Naruto nipped a strand of dirty blonde hair and replied cheerfully, "Ah, I just dyed it and tamed it this morning. What do you think?"

Sakura looked Naruto from head to foot, and then giggled. "Not bad. Why are you suddenly interested in dirty blonde hair anyway?"

"Er… well..." Naruto scratched his head, desperately trying to come up with an excuse. Lucky for him, Kakashi and Tazuna arrived right on time to save him from his awkwardness.

"Well, since everyone's here, let's began our mission." Kakashi chirped and took out his perverted book, making Naruto and Sakura begin to fume with anger.

"Sensei you PERVERT!"

"Ma~ma~" Kakashi replied half-heartedly and continued walking; nose dug deep in his book and giggled pervertedly from time to time.

Tazuna face-palmed and couldn't help but doubt with sarcasm,_ I honestly can't stand this level of maturity anymore..._

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><p>They walked for about half an hour with no danger or any incoming attacks, so the three genins began to grow more and more restless and inattentive. It wasn't until they strolled past a puddle of water when Naruto sensed something wrong. He could smell something hiding in the puddle, but he couldn't make out what it was. Naruto stole a glance at Kakashi and saw him winking at him. Naruto smiled; he knew sensei had a plan.<p>

Naruto pretended to not notice anything and walked across (by stepping on) the puddle calmly. It was then two figures suddenly shot out of the puddle. They hurled chains towards Kakashi and tightened it around him. With a sharp tug, Kakashi was sliced into pieces.

"One down." They said in unison.

Everyone was stunned by the sudden bloodshed. Naruto knew something like this was coming, but he hadn't expected to see Kakashi-sensei be slaughtered! He swallowed the nervous lump in his throat and forced himself to calm down by pinching himself on the thigh.

"Two down." Two husky, cold voices suddenly rumbled behind him. Naruto quickly darted out of the way and threw two kunai toward them, but they dodged it easily.

"Naruto! Out of the way!" Hearing Sasuke's voice behind him, Naruto quickly jumped to the side just as a grand fireball flew towards the two attackers. They both substituted themselves with a log and appeared behind Sakura and Tazuna, preparing to strike.

Naruto's body went rigid as a series of ringing's rang in his ears. He couldn't figure out what he was doing or where he was. All he saw and knew was his precious Sakura-chan and the client was being attacked, and if the client died, then his first real mission will fail. Not knowing what was happening, Naruto's body moved by itself and he disappeared in a flash. Appearing behind the inattentive Sakura and Tazuna, Naruto shouted, "**Sen'eijashu (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)**!" Four forest green-colored snakes ejected from his right sleeve and launched itself towards the two masked attackers. Saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt, the two attackers got bitten and landed heavily on the ground with a 'thud'.

It was Naruto's voice that made Sakura realize how close she was to death. If Naruto hadn't come to her rescue, she would've being dead by now. Knowing that, Sakura stared gratefully at Naruto as he slowly turned around. She almost lost herself as she saw how Naruto silhouetted himself against the morning light, how tough he looked with his confident shoulders; however, one peak at his face made her heart sink. Naruto was trembling as he scrunched up his face and allowed his tears to flow down his cheek.

"Sa-Sakura-chan! I k-killed them! I d-didn't know w-what happened! I killed them but I d-didn't mean to and I-I'm a murderer and I-"

Seeing the tears streaming down his face and Naruto choking on his sobs, Sakura's heart melt as she felt like she's watching a kicked puppy (the whisker marks on his cheeks added to the effect). She quickly changed from a fangirl to a motherly figure and hugged Naruto, letting him cry on her shoulder.

"It's okay Naruto. You are not a murderer, you are my heroic knight." Sakura comforted with no knowledge of what she was saying and patted Naruto's back. "I'm glad you came to my rescue, Naruto. If not for you, I would've been dead."

"Sa-Sakura-chan!"

"Well, well, well. What a merry happy moment." An amused voice bought them back to reality. They quickly backed away from each other, embarrassment written all over their face, "But I think it's time for some questioning."

Kakashi jumped down from a nearby tree and walked calmly towards the four figures, eyes twinkling with amusement.

The three genins and one bridge builder looked towards Kakashi's 'death' scene and found the pieces of flesh they thought they saw were actually chumps of logs.

"You did well, Naruto. Sasuke you too, and Sakura; nice thinking of protecting Tazuna. However," Kakashi's demeanor suddenly turned cold as he narrowed his eyes on Naruto. "Would you so nicely explain _how_ you know that jutsu?"

"Uhh… I… I'm not sure." Naruto stuttered as he tried to recall that moment, but he couldn't even remember the name of that jutsu!

"Really...?" Kakashi asked doubtfully, focusing a small amount of killer intent on the boy. "Because I only know two people who knows this jutsu. And do you know who they are?" He tilted his head and asked with mock kindness.

Naruto shook his head, not looking into his sensei's piercing gaze and trying his best not to collapse under the heavy atmosphere. He didn't understand why Kakashi-sensei was doing this to him (seeing Sasuke's and Sakura's confused expressions, they didn't seem to know either). Was it because he killed two ninjas? Was he in trouble?

"They are Orochimaru the Sannin, a traitor of Konoha, and Matarashi Anko, a specialist in Torture and Interrogation, who was once a student of Orochimaru." Kakashi stated calmly, silently noting the flinch from Naruto as soon as he heard the statement.

_Traitor_!? The jutsu he just used was from a _traitor_ of Konoha? Was the strange man he saw _Orochimaru the traitor_? Naruto's thoughts were in total wreckage. What should he do? Should he tell Kakashi-sensei about the strange man and whatever-that-was-injected? But how would sensei react to it? Would he be sent back to Konoha for further questioning? Was the whole team going to abandon this mission just because of him?

_No._ A small voice said in his mind,_ I promised to not let anything stop this mission. That's my Nindo! This is my first mission and no matter what, I'm going to complete it, successfully!_

Making up his mind, Naruto forced himself to look into his sensei's only eye and said, "I don't know who they are and I don't know why I know that jutsu! Hell! I don't even remember the jutsus name! My body just moved on its own and the next second I knew I was in front of these two ninjas (he pointed at the two dead ninjas laying on the ground) with snakes coming out of my sleeves!"

Kakashi stared hard at Naruto's eyes as if he wanted to read his thoughts, then suddenly clasp his hands and smiled, "Well, first problem solved! Now onto you, Tazuna-san."

Naruto stared wide-eyed at Kakashi-sensei. He thought sensei was going to question him further. Why did sensei believe him so easily? He shrugged and crossed his arms behind his head.

_At least he dropped the conversation, less problems for me!_

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><p>Sakura was extremely confused. She knew who Orochimaru was from her history classes in the academy, but how did Naruto know Orochimaru's jutsu? And why did Kakashi-sensei suddenly give up?<p>

She examined her sensei's face carefully, and found although he was talking to Tazuna, he was constantly glancing towards the oblivious Naruto. Sakura was a smart girl. From these simple gestures, she could tell what sensei was thinking. He probably dropped the conversation because he was planning something else. Maybe asking Naruto another time, or trying to find out himself when Naruto lowered his guard?

Whatever her sensei's thinking, she didn't care, because now Sakura had another objective.

Find out Naruto's secret!

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><p>Telling the truth, Sasuke didn't really care. True, he was mad at the fact that the deadlast was the one who defeated the two enemy ninjas, but he didn't understand why Kakashi-sensei was making such a fuss about a simple jutsu. The jutsu didn't look very powerful to him; personally, he thinks his Fireball Jutsu was stronger.<p>

What he did care about, however, was how the dobe moved at such a high speed. He was watching from the sidelines and he had clearly seen the dobe disappear and reappear in front of the enemies a second later. Sasuke couldn't see his movements nor how he moved, it was like he simply disappeared into thin air!

Sasuke was going to find out what the dobe was hiding. And when he found out, he was going to ask the dobe to teach him. He just hoped the dobe wouldn't reject his request; it was already humiliating enough for an _Uchiha_ to ask a _deadlast_ for help, he really didn't need Naruto to reject him and gain yet another mental scar.

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><p>"So...tell us, what you're hiding." Kakashi smiled at the trembling client.<p>

"F-fine."

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><p><strong>AN: I received a Guest review that asked how can Lee, who only had one gate opened, be faster than Orochimaru the sannin. My answer is:<strong>

**No, of course he's not faster. However, in this fic, it wasn't ****_Orochimaru _****who was being chased by Lee, it was ****_Naruto_****. Although Naruto got his speed unlocked, he hadn't unlocked ****_everything_****, therefore, he's slower than Lee with one gate opened. BUT! Naruto's speed will increase over time.**


End file.
